I Know Now
by Kishadow
Summary: "Sureness became doubt. Brotherhood became suspicion.But there are many things I know now I didn't know then." Order 66, a tale of two worlds, and forgiveness. One-shot.


_"Execute order sixty-six"_

_Fury ripped it's way through him, raging like one of the monstrous krayt dragon's that haunted Tatooine's sands. _Traitors_! All of them! Had his General just _pretended_ to be his friend? What about the other Generals he had worked with?_

I know now that I was wrong. I look at the carnage the Empire has wrought, and I know that the Jedi were _not_ traitors. The Rebellion, with Skywalker, the Jedi pilot, at it's front, fighting to bring down a reign of terror, is right. The Jedi are returning, and I am glad. Someday, maybe, the galaxy will have peace with the Jedi leading it once again.

_It didn't matter. They were... traitors. They had fought side by side, but this whole time, had he just been following a traitor's orders? A dark sense of betrayal swept through him. He lined up the Jedi in his sights, and gave the order, "Blast him." He knew that all around, his fellow commanders would do the same.  
_

I know now that some escaped, for which I am glad. Rahm Kota, Shaak Ti, Obi-wan Kenobi, Yoda, Ahsoka Tano, Ferus Olin, Bardan Jusik, and other unnamed. Now though, it is only Skywalker, who has proven himself just as formidable a warrior and pilot as his father. The others have long fallen, leaving Skywalker to be last beacon of light in a galaxy of encroching darkness. I watched Kenobi die on the Death Star, and I grieved, but my cold white mask didn't show anything._  
_

_Some of us had doubts maybe, but our helmets hid them all, under a mask of certainty,of knowing that what we were doing is _right_. We were ridding the Republic of a threat. Of course, that's when we returned to Coruscant. One Jedi remained, his silhouitte black against the bright flames engulfing the Temple. The last Jedi, predictably, to stand at the Temple, was Skywalker.  
_

I know now Skywalker was no longer a Jedi, but a Sith, those emblems of darkness the Jedi had tried so hard to hold back. Vader, once the figure head and poster boy of the Jedi Order, had come to lead this new Imperial Army to slaughter his brethren, the sentients he once fought aside. He gave orders without mercy, and when Order 37 was given, he coldly tuned out the screams of the oppressed, and eventually his presence came with a sickness, no, a _plague_, of darkness and fear._  
_

_We were high on adrenaline, on sureness._

I know now that we couldn't have been more wrong.

_We thought we were protecting the innocent, and that thought gave us strength. We thought we were destroying those who turned against us, and the Republic. Then we took down those who would wreak havoc on the Empire._

I know now that everything was a delusion, and as I stare now at a green blade lighting up this forest, I walk towards it, with each step letting the Jedi feel my intent, to talk, to _warn_. _  
_

_The Jedi fought us as long as they could when they fought. I killed three myself, once I returned to service from the cold white halls of Kamino. But my emotions had started to drain, and doubt started to creep in. A female togruta had put her hand on my shoulder, dropping her yellow and green blades, wincing slightly as my vibro dug deeper into her stomach, and whispered, "My alleigance was to the _Republic_. To _democracy_." With those two sentences, my doubt roared in, expanding, as she breathed out for the last time, grounded.  
_

I know now that to ground someone made to fly was a cruel act._  
_

_I had brought down Ahsoka Tano, Skywalker's Padawan, the one who I had laughed with, and enjoyed hanging with, since neither of us could really pull rank. I died then, and a number took my place. Sith drained life, and I worked for them now. I was... weary._

I know now what I have to do. I fought for the Rebellion that night, and as I was welcomed into their group, albeit with suspicious looks, I caught sight of a pale shimmering ghost. My old General. He simply nodded at me, "Commander."_  
_

**I was alive. I was forgiven.**

I know now that I can rest now. I slipped away from the physical world, leaving the confines of my body. I snapped a salute to my old General, and turned to face General Skywalker, and then his Padawan. The three Jedi spoke, and said, "Welcome home, Commander."

**There was no need to apologize.**

Not to my family.


End file.
